The Freebird
by Flam Jammer
Summary: A boy called Flamant is the son of a Marine who died in a battle with a Pirate crew. When he finds a strange Devil Fruit one day, he decides that he himself will sail the seas, to see if he will become a Pirate or a Marine. But sailing the seas, even with a Fruit, can be a rough job! Can he make it? Starts 30 days after the Dressrosa Arc.
1. Prologue

**Ashton Wells threw a rock against the water.** The decision to make was tough. Could he steel himself to do it? It was quite a big order…. But in the end, he guessed he must. Sighing slightly, he got up and turned to the man dressed in a black suit behind him.

"So, you're really going to fight me, huh?"

The Shark Pirates raised their swords and yelled "Yes!" in defiance. The Shark Pirates were a fearsome group of Pirates terrorizing the waters of South Blue. As a Marine Captain, it was Ashton's job to defeat them and save civilians.

However, even he had to admit the sight of the 10,000 strong Shark Pirates was a fearsome sight. He wasn't particularly rattled by their threatening shark mouth tattoos as by their expert swordsman captain and their 5000 member "Swordsman Club", who had very sharp-looking katanas.

He grinned at the Shark Pirates, as he turned his arms into emerald. He charged with a yell, but it was drowned in the shouting of 10,000 angry men.

 _ **10 hours of rough fighting later.**_

Ashton rubbed the blood from his forehead as he took out yet another Shark Pirate. Blood was flowing like a river from his numerous stab wounds and gunshot holes. But he had to keep going. For justice. _Stab._ He threw yet another punch with his emerald fists…. _Bang._ He felt the pirate's skull crack… _Slash._ Ouch, that hurt.

Ashton could feel the semblance of life seeping from his body. But he kept fighting. A pirate was coming towards him. Or was it two pirates? Ashton didn't know, but he decided to charge the one on the left.

That was the wrong move. The real pirate was on his right. Just as Ashton's vision caught on, a sword drove right through his chest.

So he was going to die, huh? Ashton felt kind of sad…. He'd be leaving a wife and 2 year old child all alone, he would have disgraced the Marines, and the Shark Pirates would still be 200 members strong. He sighed, as his mind was filled with a heavy fog, and he closed his eyes.

 **Flamant Woods sat in his room reading a book.** It was not a very gripping tale. In fact, his eyes drifted in and out of focus each time he tried to focus on a paragraph. But reading homework was still homework, and he had to do it if he wanted to stay in school.

His eyes always went back to his father's old flintlock pistol. He had used it in his early days as a Marine, before he had found his Devil Fruit. It held a special place in Flament's heart, because it was a memoir of his father who died in a time before he could remember, or understand.

Flamant sighed. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea to take a breath of fresh air. He could go bird-hunting with that flintlock. His marksmanship, after all, was something he could count on.

Getting out of bed, he walked to the glass case beneath which the flintlock was placed. He walked out of his room, down the stairs, and past the living room where his mother had fallen asleep on a soft couch. His father's Captain's payments insured that the Woods would remain a relatively rich family for the rest of their lives.

He pushed open the ornately carved mahogany door, and stepped out onto the blinding sunlight. The cobbled street remained mainly empty, as it was early morning. This was good for Flamant. It helped him concentrate better.

Immediately, as if it knew what Flamant wanted, a bird gave a loud squawk. He looked in the direction of the sound, and sure enough, a crow was flapping its way towards him. He lifted up the pistol, and fired one shot. Immediately, the bird begin dropping.

As it hit the cobblestones, a large pear shaped slightly gray fruit rolled away from its beak. Flamant went closer to investigate what it was…

 **So, that was the introduction chapter to my new story. IF you can, feel free to leave a review or criticism. Thanks for reading!**

 **Next Chapter: Ch.1-Free! Sneak Peek:**

"Wow! I can really fly! Hahaha!"


	2. Chapter 1

**Flamant picked up the strange looking fruit.** It had markings all over it; its top was an upside down pink arc. Immediately, Flamant knew this was a Devil Fruit. His heart began beating fast. He had always wanted a Devil Fruit, but then again, he didn't know what fruit it was.

He decided to risk it. He put the fruit in his mouth and began to chew.

The first thing he noticed was that the taste was horrible. Covering his mouth to stop himself vomiting, he kept chewing. He registered that the texture of the fruit was like string, and that made it hard to swallow.

"Hey! Young man, why are you out of your room instead of doing your homework?"

Flamant gulped. The fruit went down his throat painfully and his eyes began to sting. He turned and saw his mother staring out at him from under the door frame. She had a sleepy expression of mild annoyance. Then he noticed the flintlock in Flamant's hand.

"Bird hunting again, eh? I told you not to touch that flintlock!" his mother shouted at him, her eyes flaring.

"I-I was just having a bit of fun." said Flamant cautiously, faltering under the gaze of his mom.

"I told you, it wakes up the neighbors! In fact, that's probably what woke me up in the first place" shouted Farina Woods, her face turning red.

"Oh, puh-lease" said Flamant disbelievingly, casually waving his hand. Immediately, three strings shot from his ring, middle and pointer finger and slashed deep into the stone of the house next door. Dust flew from the spot where the strings had sliced the stones.

" _ **The Ito Ito No Mi? No way! That's the fruit of the recently executed criminal Doflamingo! How lucky is that? Only 10 days after his death, I stumble upon his fruit?"**_ thought Flamant

The strings retracted into his finger nails, leaving deep gouge marks in the neighbor's house. His mother wore a look of total shock on her face. His mother looked at Flamant one last time, then pointed to the living room and said:

"In. Now."

Flamant didn't dare disobey. He hurriedly walked through the doorway and sat down on a sofa.

 **2 hours later.**

After explaining to his mother about how he had found the fruit and what fruit it was, he received a long lecture about the dangers of eating random things found on the street, Devil Fruits and about how his father would be disappointed in him. He was reminded yet again not to touch the flintlock and then sent up to his room.

Now, as he sat in his study room, all his thoughts were on the fruit. So, the power to control string, huh? That was certainly cool. He could use it to make bullets out of string, or control people. He had heard he could even fly by attaching the strings to a cloud. All of this was explained in the newspaper where the Shichibukai Doflamingo's death was announced.

The one that particularly interested him was the flying ability. Was it real? There were a lot of rumors floating around the execution of Doflamingo, and his fruit too. It just seemed too mystical and too powerful. Complete control? Flight? Instant magical bullets? Those seemed like something made up by a ten year old.

Flamant wanted to test it out. He got out of his chair, walked to his closed window, and threw it open. The sky was cloudy. Flamant smiled. This was a good omen. He lazily flicked his fingers at the clouds. A thin stream of string shot out of his hand.

Flamant's eyes widened. He could definitely feel that the string had attached to _something._ But was it the clouds? He mimicked his previous movement with his left hand. Again, it attached to something. He put one leg on the windowsill, still holding on to the strings on his two hands.

 _Please let this work,_ Flamant thought. And then he jumped. His eyes closed at the sudden rush of wind. After 10 seconds, he opened them again. He looked down, and saw the ground 30 feet below him. He was swinging from the clouds by his two arms like a puppet. Flamant's eyes lit up.

"Wow! I can really fly! Hahahah!"

He pushed his arms in a swimming motion, and was carried forward 2 feet. The strings strummed ominously. He happily began swimming around. The strings began violently shaking. Suddenly, one ripped. Flamant was now being held by only one string, and he wasn't sure that string would hold much longer.

The string began to tear. Flamant looked back at his windowsill. It was a few feet below him and 10 feet away from him. He flicked his middle finger at it. A string flew from his hand and attached to the wooden window frame. He let go of the other string.

Flamant was pulled forward at great speed. As he was being pulled, he felt himself swinging downwards. And then he hit the door of his house.

His remaining string tore as he fell to the ground in a heap. He was seeing double. Slowly, he got up and felt his forehead. A large lump had formed there. What was worse, his vision had turned red. He looked at the sea next to his house where their family boat was tied.

Suddenly, looking at the boat, Flamant had an idea. If his father was a Marine, could he be a Marine too? Or was his destiny in something else? There was only one way to find out.

Flamant burst through his front door, shocking his mother. Just before his mother had begun saying something about the bump on his forehead, he asked:

"Mama, can I go out to sea?"

 **So, that was the first chapter to my story. Yes, I mistakenly labeled the last one as Chapter 1 when it was supposed to be the prologue. If you can, feel free to leave a review or criticism. Thanks for reading!**

 **Ch-2: The Shark Eats The Bird Sneak Peek**

A large group of men in black suits stood in front of him. They were led by a large Fishman, who was wearing an unbuttoned yellow and green shirt. Strangely, all of the men had tattoos of a shark's mouth on their shoulders…


End file.
